Award Winning Professor Back in Fine Arts Department

Jozie Kumm

Jozie.Kumm@coyotes.usd.edu

Young Ae Kim has returned to USD as professor in the graphic design program after teaching at SDSU for five years.

In the beginning of Kim’s career, she wanted to be a doctor. However, she changed her major after realizing that she wanted to do something she enjoyed. In 2000, she graduated from Sookmyung Women’s University in Seoul, South Korea and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in fine arts with a specialization in industrial design.

During this time she worked for big companies, including Samsung and LG, as a designer. She was successful in this field and promoted quickly, but she found her passion in the arts, specifically in graphic design.

“I had a taste of how my design can influence people in [the] general public wise, but I also wanted to influence youngsters like somebody who’s just about to learn something new that doesn’t know anything about. And I found that more meaningful than creating lots of those design products,” Kim said.

Kim said she has always wanted to teach students at a college level, so she made the decision to go to the United States to attend the Savannah College of Art and Design, in Savannah, Georgia. There, she graduated with a masters of fine arts.

Then she came to USD where she got her Ph.D. in human psychology. She was a professor at USD for nine years before moving to SDSU.

“I grew up in a metropolitan city with over 10 million people…